Estenda Solutions, Inc. to Partner With Healthcare Research Associates, LLC
Conshohocken, PA (PRWEB) June 26, 2014 -- Estenda Solutions Inc. is announcing its partnership with Healthcare Research Associates, LLC to create a mobile application that connects patients with researchers.
In 2013, both Estenda and Healthcare Research Associates, LLC’s president, Regina Greer-Smith, were awarded Honorable Mention in the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research (PCORI) Challenge – Estenda for prototype, Greer-Smith for Concept. In the spirit of PCORI, they have decided to bring their ideas together to develop a mobile application prototype for Greer-Smith’s S.T.A.R. Initiative – Strategically Targeting Appropriate Researchers, a culturally appropriate methodology for minority communities to identify, select, and involve researchers capable of engaging communities to conduct Patient-Centered Outcomes Research (PCOR). Throughout the development, Estenda and Healthcare Research Associates, LLC will actively seek feedback from the end-user by involving patients and researchers in the creation of the application.
Estenda and Healthcare Research Associates, LLC are pursuing funding for their mobile application that will provide features for patient-centered outcomes research education and communication. The mobile application will initially focus on allowing African American women to partner with appropriate researchers to design patient-centered breast cancer studies, but eventually expand to include other groups of patients and researchers. The mobile app will promote continuous patient engagement and research in minority communities where smartphones are more accessible than high speed networks and computers.
According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, minorities (along with young adults) are leading consumers of health information via mobile platforms. “Our current engagement with patients and community members has demonstrated their high acceptance and willingness to use smartphones and mobile apps to enable them to participate in research,” said Greer-Smith.
About Regina Greer-Smith: Regina is president and owner of Healthcare Research Associates, LLC located in Hazel Crest, Illinois. Regina’s work includes building and maintaining collaborations between communities and stakeholders that enable improved healthcare outcomes. Regina currently is in partnership with the Southland Ministerial Health Network/Pastors4PCOR and researchers at Northwestern building research ministries in local congregations. She also will be serving on the Patient Clinician Advisory Committee (PCAC) for CAPriCORN, The Chicago Area Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Network, the PCORI-funded clinical data research network for Chicago. The network is designed to improve medical research. She is the developer and principal investigator of The S.T.A.R. Initiative which won an Honorable Mention in the Concept category from PCORI and received an Outreach Express Award from the National Network of Libraries of Medicine/National Institute of Health. The mission of The S.T.A.R. Initiative is to increase minority participation in patient-centered outcomes research and clinical trials. Regina holds a Master of Public Health Degree (MPH) from Benedictine University, Lisle, IL and is a Fellow with The American College of Healthcare Executives (board certified).
About Estenda: Estenda Solutions is a project consulting and custom software development small business focused on advancing patient care, healthcare research, and medical informatics. Estenda Solutions collaborates with healthcare providers, research professionals, and industry from around the world to create innovative solutions. Estenda’s goals are to continuously provide tools to enable better patient care and management. Working with both large and small organizations and the individual researcher, Estenda enjoys the challenge of helping its clients’ initiatives grow. Estenda has a rich history of work in disease management/chronic care coordination, registries, screening programs, data warehousing, population health, PCMH and ACO, clinical research program conception and grant writing, clinical study management, telemedicine, and data integration (HL7 and DICOM). Estenda is ISO 9001/13485 certified. For more information, visit http://www.estenda.com.
Richard Kedziora, Estenda Solutions, http://www.estenda.com, +1 610 834 2908, [email protected]
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